Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this whole “major in nursing, minor in psychology” idea for a while now, and let me tell you, it’s been a journey. I started out thinking, “Hey, these two kinda fit, right?” People are people, bodies and minds, it all connects. Boy, was I in for a ride.
First, I dug into the nursing curriculum. I mean, really dug in. I looked at all the required courses: anatomy, physiology, pharmacology… the whole nine yards. It was intense! I spent hours just poring over course descriptions, trying to figure out how it all worked together.
- Anatomy & Physiology: Gotta know how the body works, inside and out.
- Pharmacology: All about the meds, how they work, side effects… the works.
- Pathophysiology: Basically, what goes wrong with the body when you’re sick.
Then I switched gears and checked out the psychology side of things. Intro to Psych, Developmental Psych, Abnormal Psych… It felt like a whole different world, but a surprisingly relevant one. I started to see how understanding a patient’s mental state could really impact their physical health, and vice-versa.
The hard part was, there is not a lot of places online that explain exactly how the overlap is.
- Intro to Psychology: The basics, like, how do people think and behave?
- Developmental Psychology: How people change over their lives, from babies to old folks.
- Abnormal Psychology: All about mental disorders and how to understand them.
Next, I tried to map out a potential four-year plan. This was a headache! Fitting all the required courses for both the nursing major and the psychology minor into a reasonable schedule was like playing a really complicated game of Tetris. I moved courses around, looked at summer sessions, and even considered taking extra credits some semesters. There was a lot of scribbling on paper and crossing things out. It was rough.
The Realization
Finally, after all that, I had a bit of an “aha!” moment. It wasn’t just about checking off boxes on a course list. It was about how these two fields could actually complement each other. I started thinking about how a nurse with a strong understanding of psychology could better communicate with patients, understand their fears and anxieties, and provide more holistic care. It became less about the logistics and more about the potential impact.
So, that’s where I’m at now. Still working on the details, but I’m feeling pretty good about this whole “nursing major, psychology minor” thing. It’s definitely a challenge, but I think it’s a worthwhile one. It’s like putting together two pieces of a puzzle that make the picture even better.
